On last year’s excellent instro LP Willie Boo Boo The Fool, veteran Brick City producer K-Def expressed his own concern with the rap game’s turns over the years. This year, Def teams with young blood DaCapo to form The Program and drop their inaugural EP, The Article (Ghetto Man Beats), reviving the sample-reliant, low-’90s-BPM vibe of the early ’90s. As expected, Def does his thing on the production side, whether generating fresh soundscapes (the joyous strings of ‘Free Speech’ and ‘Day Dreaming’) or tastefully repurposing the familiar (some ol’ Ed O.G. on the industry primer ‘Gotta Get Da Cash’ and a lil’ Latifah on the paean to lost rap cats ‘Fallen’). DaCapo, however, provides the nicest surprise, thoughtfully enunciating throughout like Large Professor or CL Smooth reincarnate. So when he says, on the title track, that he’s in it for “much more than the name or the fame or the change in the game,” it’s official. Genuine article.

Critical Beatdown, Chairman’s Choice. XXL magazine July 2008

There you go: makes me feel proud that I played a small part in it all. Keep an eye out for the official digital release of both The Article EP and Willie Boo Boo The Fool coming from the Ghetto Man Beats camp very soon.